Friday, September 26, 2014

One of my favorite things about being a learning specialist and educational therapist is creating a unique approach for each of my students. Each learner comes with a one-of-a-kind set of strengths and weakness, as well as likes and dislikes. Therefore, with the help of my students, I'm continually fashioning new instructional approaches and materials. But meeting the needs of my students is just half my professional pie, as I also strive to assist and guide colleagues and parents in solving onerous, remedial needs.Cracking Difficult Student Cases:I often get emails from my followers asking for my advice about how to meet the needs of students that are challenging to remediate. I recently received an email from a reading specialist asking me to help with a tricky case. As my response could benefit others too, I decided to share my ideas in this week's blog!Teaching Peter the Letters:Peter is four years and eleven months and is presently in preschool (student name changed for anonymity)Here is a quick summary of Peter's case from the perspective of his reading specialist

"Peter is very willing to learn, and he has a good attitude... He has almost no recall of letter naming and sounds. I would present a multi-sensory activity where I would have him repeat the letter that I said while pointing to it on the magnet board. Then I would have him pick out the letter from the letter cards on the floor. When I asked him after he found it, to tell me the name of the letter, he would have already forgotten it. His mom has been reviewing the letters A through F everyday at home, and he still does not remember them. He only knows the alphabet in the song. Peter cannot name the letters when out of order with accuracy. He is not able to write the alphabet nor name the letters of the alphabet when being shown the letter. I would say that he does have some letters memorized, yet I have not recorded which ones other than “r.” The list is small... He seems to have a weak visual memory and working memory... I believe that he would benefit from the tactile/kinesthetic approach given that he is an athletic boy who has excellent control of his hand/eye coordination."

Here is a quick summary from Peter's mother:

"Peter is a lover of sports, primarily golf. He currently takes private golf lessons and is unbelievable. He does not like to play contact sports, but enjoys watching them. Peter also loves cars, the faster, the better. He has 2 go-karts and has been driving them for 1 year. He LOVES his friends and is a great playmate. He also enjoys Wii and Legos. He can trace letters, but can not write them freely. He has been practicing writing his name for quite some time. We work on 7 letters at a time. (A-G). He does enjoy coloring... He has never been tested and to my knowledge, does not have attention difficulties. He is so good behaviorally in school for the fear he will get in trouble. He does NOT like to be yelled at at all!!! Now, if he is paying attention, not sure. He is a very sensitive child on all levels. Peter is very gifted athletically and has a lot of self confidence in sports; however, his confidence in school this year seems to be plummeting; which worries me greatly!"

Suggestions for Peter:As Peter is very sensitive and his confidence in school is suffering, it will be important to bring the fun factor into learning. I purposely asked for information about what Peter loves to do, and believe that integrating this into his lessons will help him find joy in the learning process, and it will motivate him to master his letters. Also, getting excited about these strategies and making a big deal about his accomplishments is key!

Here are my recommendations:

Begin with one letter at a time. The reading specialist can introduce the letter and Peter can

work with that letter for the whole week. If this method is too slow, he can do two letters a week, but work on them separately. One letter for 3 days, the other letter for 3 days and then both letters for the final day.

Create a "alphabet golf game." Once Peter has learned a few of the letters. Scatter the letters on a carpet. When you say a letter, Peter must hit the golf ball to that letter. As another option, multiple players may have to spell out a word such as "cat," by hitting each letter with the golf ball in sequence while calling out the letters. The player to do this in the fewest number of tries is the winner. Since, Peter "loves his friends and is a great playmate," this could be a great game for him when he has a playdate.

Create activities for Peter to complete for each letter. Generate fun names for the activities to enhance motivation.

Here are 13 suggestions:

Create a colorful collage of the letter by asking Peter to tear out that letter from magazines.

Ask Peter to create both the capital and lowercase letter out of legos.

Outline a large copy of the letter or cut a letter out of black construction paper and ask Peter to turn the inside of the letter into a road by drawing white dashes (see image). He can also add details around the letter when drawn on a large piece of paper, such as trees and houses. Help Peter learn to form the letter properly by taking one of his toy cars and helping him learn how to properly trace the letter with his toy car.

Let Peter come up with his own creative ways to make the letter by thinking of a word that starts with that letter and associating the image of that word with the letter. For example, Peter could make the letter A look like an apple. Allison McDonald from No Time for Flash Cards offers some great ideas.

Let Peter make the letter out of cookie dough and bake cookies. When eating the cookies, try to think of a word that begins with that letter.

Help Peter use tape to draw the letter on a carpet and have Peter use a golf ball and a putter to trace the letter.

Create a printout of letters and ask Peter to circle only the letter that he is working on. You can also use print materials such as magazines. Like a hidden picture, Peter may have to find all the letter Bs.

Help Peter take a picture of the letter in nature or around the house. To learn more about this as well as some other fun letter strategies, click here.

Take pictures of all of Peter's creative letter creations and make a scrap book. You can also

take pictures and create a photo book in IPhoto or sites like SnapFish.

Create your own tongue twisters for each of the letters. For example, Billy Butler Bought Buttery Biscuits.

Once Peter has learned a few letters. Place them on a balloon. Toss the balloon to Peter and ask him the name of the first letter he sees. Once he has mastered this, ask him to make the letter sound. Another options is to ask Peter to think of a word that begins with that letter or ask him to act out a word that begins with that sound.

Cognitive Tools for Peter:
Because Peter's working memory and visual memory appear to be areas of deficit, it is also important for him to build these skills through cognitive remedial games. I have two publications in mind.

Reversing Reversals Primary - This publication develops visual memory, visual reasoning, spatial skills, auditory and visual memory, sequential memory, visual discrimination, tracking, attention to detail and more. It is ideal for learners that exhibit confusion with letters and numbers. Better yet, the game-like activities use animal characters, so the students won't even realize that they are developing the foundation skills behind reading and math.

Friday, September 19, 2014

Motivating students to complete homework assignments can be tricky. After a long day at school, few learners look forward to tackling academics on their free time. So what can we do to make the process less taxing, and possibly enjoyable?

Strategies for Turning Homework into Home Fun:
Who came up with the idea to call after-school assignments "homework?" Clearly, they were not thinking about the psychological sabotage embedded in that word. I mean, really, who wants to take schoolwork home? Here are a number of strategies that will help you to improve students attitudes and motivation, about home assignments.

Don't call home assignments, homework, but come up with a name that is more appealing and motivating such as home fun. Think like an advertising agency that is trying to sell a product, and be sure to create fun and enticing names for all your assignments and lessons. For example, I never teach script or cursive. I teach roller-coaster letters! Furthermore, generate excitement about upcoming units by showing your own enthusiasm for the content.

Bring the arts, music, and games into assignments. Many students enjoy fine arts, acting, music, and making as well as playing games, so try to weave these into the curriculum. Encouraging these creative options can also bring the fun factor into learning and make academics more memorable too.

Offer a number of assignment options. Each student possesses different strengths, and they also have their own preferred ways of learning. As a result, provide choices that allow students to share their knowledge while granting them the power to select an appealing approach.

Limit the amount of homework. Students are often cognitively spent after working all day long in school, and there is a lot of research that suggests that home assignments really are not all that helpful. In fact, a Canadian family took this issue to the Supreme Court in their country, arguing that there was no evidence that home assignments improved academic performance. They actually won the ruling and their children were exempt from all homework.

Offer your students extra credit for completing home assignments. Many students are motivated to improve their grades. Besides the ones that are doing poorly, are the ones that probably need the extra practice!

I hope you found this blog helpful. If you have other ideas, please share them.

Friday, September 12, 2014

There are thousands of reading remediation programs out there as well as reading specialists that can help learners master the complex task of learning to read. However, the process can be taxing, time consuming and expensive. In fact, many students are placed into slow and boring programs that force them to wade through a sequence of lessons, many of which are not needed and not fun.

How Can Reading Remediation be Tailored to Meet Individual Needs?
Assessing each students' needs is imperative so that time can be used efficiently and positive results can abound quickly. This will allow the instructor to individualize remedial goals for maximum results.

How Can Individual Needs be Assessed?
There are a number of areas that need to be evaluated to see where there are gaps in proficiency. Once you know where the problem areas lie, you can focus remediation. Here are the areas that should be assessed.

Letter: name/sound recognition

Rhyming words

Syllable divisions

Word Blending

Beginning sounds

Middle sounds

Ending sounds

Words to sounds

Drop the first sound

Drop the last sound

Sight words

Closed syllables

Open syllables

Silent-E syllables

Consonant LE syllables

R-combination syllables

Vowel combinations

Syllabication

Beginning blends, digraphs and trigraphs

Ending blends

Compound words

Prefixes

Suffixes

Compound words

Is There A Publication That Assesses These Needed Areas?
The Good Sensory Learning Reading Assessment offers a comprehensive, 27-subtest evaluation that helps to tailor any phonics based or Orton-Gillingham reading program. It was designed to offer reading specialists, teachers and parents an easy assessment. The score sheet, pictured to the right, allows administrators to highlight instructional goals, and the re-administration (post-intervention) provides comparative information about the success of the intervention as well as additional needs.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Students that struggle with ADHD battle maintaining their focus on classroom materials and can be a challenge to hook and reel in for any teacher. Many teachers and parents ask me to help them address what is best for ADHD learners, and the magic for motivating and enticing these students falls into five realms: the learning environment, the teaching approach, the teachers presentation, mindfulness training and the assessment of learning method.

Offer hands on experiences and consider creating learning stations where students can complete a variety of activities that reinforce lessons.

Offer a variety of seating options. Some students learn best when sitting still, while other students need to move around. Options, such as the Zenergy Ball Chair, stand up school desks and bouncy bands offer opportunities for students to move without distracting their classmates.

Play games that preview or review lessons. This will bring the fun factor into the classroom.

Make sure that the lighting is optimal for all learners.

Make sure that there are minimal auditory and visual distractions.

The Teaching Approach: Use teaching methods that are empowering for all learners.

Go multisensory: Teach to each of the 12 ways of learning, while assessing and accommodating your learners best ways of learning so lessons can be most empowering. To get an assessment and manual on meeting the 12 ways of learning, CLICK HERE.

Make the lesson playful. If you are not sure how to do this, create a suggestion box and let your students offer ideas.

Go creative and integrate art and music into your lessons.

The Teacher's Presentation: Be enthusiastic and positive when presenting your lesson.

Create excitement or intrigue on class topics. For example, encourage your students to dress like the historical characters they are learning about, create a game for a lesson and let the students know how fun it will be, provide examples on how a coming topic is used in real life, and invite engaging professionals to share their experiences to the class.

Come up with a fun name for all lessons. Instead of introducing a lesson with a dull and boring name, come up with a title that sounds fun. For example, don't teach script or cursive, teach roller-coaster letters!

Be positive in your presentation. Stop using negative labels and replace discouraging comments with words of encouragement. Click here to learn more.

Mindfulness Training: Teach your students to manage and be aware of their own thinking process.

Determine if your students are passive or active learners and help them become conscious learners. Here is a free assessment you can use with your students.

Multisensory Multiplication and Division to Melodies CD - MMDM

Kangaroo Metric Conversions

College Essay Workshop

Eclectic Teaching Approach

Noodle the Noun Hound

Preppy the Preposition Penguin

Fraction Golf, Hockey and More

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